Bad Behavior (Conduct, #2)

by Jennifer Lane

Grant Madsen's got issues. He's still battling his Mafia family and doing everything possible to keep his loved ones safe. With the cruising season coming to an end, he has to find another job soon or he'll rejoin his father in prison. And he's trying to convince his rebellious teenage nephew to stay away from their criminal relatives (you can imagine how that's going). But worst of all, Grant's parole officer has mandated that he attend therapy. The only saving grace is that they're couples sessions with his girlfriend, Sophie Taylor, a fellow parolee who's struggling with a few issues of her own. Sophie desperately hopes her past with Grant's brother won't destroy her future with him. There's a sleazy professor at work who revels in sexually harassing women in the psychology department. And her father still hates Grant. Their psychologist has his work cut out for him. When Grant's ruthless father hints at a plot to get out of prison, Grant must use everything he's learned in therapy and beyond to try to stop him. It's a race against time -- and a race to rescue Sophie from the Mafia's clutches once again. But this time McSailor and Bonnie refuse to play victims. This time the cuffs are coming off.

• ISBN10: 1936305666
• ISBN13: 9781936305667
• Publish Date: 8 March 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Omnific Publishing
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 307
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amanda]

3.5

Bad Behavior is a prime example of why I dislike taking review requests. Not because Bad Behavior is bad--it's not, not at all--but because I drag my feet when it comes time to read and review. (Sorry, Jennifer!) And I'm sure that the only reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first is because it was a review request. Because review requests = obligations = not as fun. So it goes.

If you thought Sophie's and Grant's adventures were over and done with after With Good Behavior, you were wrong. Though certainly not over, the suspense factor in Bad Behavior is toned down, waiting until the very end of the book before the action kicks up and we start worrying for the characters. The ending, though? I like where it's going to take the characters. There's hope for them yet.

I'm torn about how I feel about the psychologist aspects of Bad Behavior. That Sophie and Grant work on building healthy relationships with each other and their respective families was something that belongs in more books. But it did turn into a psychology lesson every now and again, which wasn't what I was looking for at the time. Sometimes even I need to turn my brain off. Crazy. But true.

But if you've read With Good Behavior, you'll want to see how Sophie and Grant fair in this installment. I had some eyebrow-raising moments with these two (Grant more than Sophie), but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

[Cocktails and Books]

The second book in the CONduct series picks up shortly after the first. Sophie is still recovering from cousin Carlo's attack while preparing to start her teaching position at DePaul. Grant, still reeling from the torment his family put Sophie through, dealing with the death of his brother and the prospect of finding a new job, really doesn't want to participate in the couple's therapy sessions their PO has assigned.



But therapy is what Sophie and Grant embark on with Dr. Hunter Hayes. Hunter was working with Sophie when she was first released, but he agrees to take on the couple against his better judgement. He knows right away that things with this couple are not going to be easy. He was right.

Grant's nightmares are bad and with therapy, things seem to get worse. Reliving the nightmare he lived through and knowing that the woman he loves knows all his dirty little secrets is almost too much for him. And when Grant learns exactly what kind of relationship Sophie had with his brother, Logan, Grant snaps.

But Grant's not the only one needing to deal with issues. Sophie's dealing with her tenuous relationship with her father and trying to figure out what her professional life is going to be like now that she's teaching about psychology instead of practicing it. Plus there's her ex-professor/crush who she now works with and makes her feel inferior.



While Grant and Sophie have their own individual issues to deal with, they also need to help Grant's nephew Ben. Grant's determined to make sure Ben doesn't fall into the family business, but Ben's not fully engaged in his clean-cut lifestyle.

But as Grant and Sophie make strides in strengthening themselves and their relationship, old foes resurface and put our couple right in path of trouble. Can they finally stop the Barberi's and live happily ever after?

Sophie and Grant are as cute as ever in this addition to the series, but they both face some real hardships in their relationship. Through their counseling sessions they both learn they have their own set of issues that need to be worked on in order to ensure their relationship will be strong. It was very interesting to "watch" them work through those issues and get to the place where they can actually address those that caused the brunt of their issues.

The continued Barberi story was interesting and we get to witness Enzo Barberi first hand and how the man can still terrorize his thirty year old son....even from behind bars. My only complaint would be what happened to Enzo and the rest of the Barberi family after the events that happened at the end of the book. Maybe we'll get more of that in the third book in the series.



While not quite as heartbreaking as "With Good Behavior" but it was nice to see a good therapist help Grant and Sophie deal with their issues and work towards being healthier individuals and creating that strong, lasting, loving relationship.

Can't wait for book 3.